


Journey to Forever

by CountDorku



Series: Glimmadora Week 3: The Monster Is Loose [5]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mythology, F/F, Inspired by Hades (Video Game), Mild Blood, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:27:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27897532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CountDorku/pseuds/CountDorku
Summary: Adora, a minor goddess of the underworld, fights her way free to see her girlfriend.
Relationships: Adora/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Series: Glimmadora Week 3: The Monster Is Loose [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2035966
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	Journey to Forever

Adora tossed the cape over her shoulder and picked up her shield. Her hand hovered over her spear…but no. The spear was mostly a formation weapon; this was a job for her sword – a weapon from Parthi, longer than the xiphos most warriors would favour.

The Underworld’s half-light shimmered on her armour as she marched out into the House of the Dead. The king of the dead, Horde Prime, was absent; at the foot of his throne sat Scorpia, her claws hung with lengths of chain, and between those and the fact that she had, you know, claws, the scroll she was attempting to fill out wasn’t proceeding well.

“Hey, Scorp,” said Adora, and the goddess of oaths looked up from the paperwork.

“Hey, ‘Dor. Going up?”

“Is it that obvious?” Scorpia’s eyes played over Adora’s cuirass, engraved with a rough approximation of her muscles, and Adora blushed. “Okay, stupid question.”

“You really think you’re gonna make it up again?”

“You really think anything Horde Prime can stick between here and there is gonna stop me?”

That earned a chuckle. “Okay. Good luck, ‘Dor. And. Uh.” Scorpia looked embarrassed. “If you run into, you know, Perfuma, could you tell her I said hi?”

“Of course,” said Adora, suppressing a smile. Scorpia had been quite taken with the gentle harvest goddess when they’d met; if something could release Scorpia from her sworn promise to the Dead Throne, Adora might not be the only one making this run.

Speaking of running…

Adora began to accelerate.

* * *

The lower underworld was a maze, seemingly always in motion, filled with thronging shades. Adora avoided the main paths, shade-haunted and heavily guarded; she faced opposition either way, but this way, none of the dead were harmed. (She didn’t know if it was permanent or if you could kill the dead or what, but there was no point getting them caught in the crossfire.)

So, she stuck to the side-chambers, and the creatures that dwelled in them: scattered shades, fragments of powerful monsters, deadly traps. None of them were much of a match for her, admittedly.

As she swung around the corner into a large chamber, a vast shape loomed into view.

It didn’t so much resemble a dog as a mid-point illustration of how _to_ draw a dog, where it shows you a bunch of interconnected circles but hasn’t added any of the details yet. As the greenish light of the witchfire burned brighter, Adora started to make out more details: the colossus was forged from ceramics, wrapped in bands of iron, and had three spherical heads.

“Adora! Hi!”

Of course, that tracked.

“Hey, Entrapta. New Emily design?”

“Yeah!” Entrapta, goddess of machines, dropped from the back of her greatest creation. “The extra heads were Hordak’s idea; ever heard of hydras?”

“Can’t say I have, Entrapta.”

“Oh, well, they’re this big snake monster that grows extra heads when they’re cut off. Some great mortal hero killed one. Shot an arrow through its heads. Just one arrow, mind.”

Adora thought for a moment. “Bow?”

“What else would you shoot an arrow from?”

“I mean, was it the mortal named Bow? Glimmer said he was doing some amazing stuff.”

“Probably? I wasn’t really paying attention for that part.” Entrapta patted the ceramic giant on the leg. “Now, I’m sorry, but I’m really not supposed to let you past.”

“I assume this means that if I don’t turn back now, you’ll sic Emily on me?”

“Yeah.”

“All right, then.” Adora readied her sword. “I’ll try not to break her too badly.”

* * *

“Adora,” rumbled the final guardian, raising a steel-wrapped claw.

“Hordak,” Adora said, in a voice like steel. The God of Death always insisted that he was simply following Horde Prime’s commands, but there was a sadistic edge to his actions – like he wasn’t satisfied to just claim the living, because they needed to suffer for their temerity first. “Get out of my way.”

“I’m sure you understand that I cannot allow that. My brother’s orders.”

“Your brother,” said Adora, “is an asshole.”

“He is the lord of this realm, and you will pay him due respect after this foolhardy attempt to escape has ended.”

“I’m already paying him all the respect he’s actually due.”

The expression on Hordak’s skull-like face turned thunderous. “Very well, then.” He raised his claw-like fists and lunged.

Adora sidestepped the strike, spinning the sword through the air with a whistling sound. It carved a cut onto Hordak’s cheek; a black, oily liquid seeped from the wound, hissing and dissolving as it hit the floor. Hordak scowled and lashed back at her with his claw, scratching her upper arm; the liquid that dripped from this wound was a shimmering gold.

Teeth gritted, Adora dived out of the way of Hordak’s next swipe, rolling to her feet and swinging around. The blade slammed into the armoured plates on Hordak’s wrist, but as he attempted to strike, Adora swatted his claw out of the way and thrust the blade into his chest.

Hordak dissolved into black oil and seeped into the floor, disappearing. He’d be back; Adora didn’t have any weapon capable of permanently ending a god, even a jerk one like Hordak. It saved a lot of moral quandaries, honestly; he would be, at most, annoyed after he reconstituted himself.

* * *

The great gate slammed shut behind her, and Adora stepped out to the surface. The forest around her was lit by moonlight, a silvery, living light that felt immediately better on her skin than the dead light of the underworld-

“Help!”

Adora’s blade leaped into her hand as a teenage girl raced into the clearing, sun-bleached hair flying behind her, the skeleton of a monstrous snake at her heels. She had scratches on her legs, but they looked like she’d run into a thorn bush; the snake hadn’t bitten her.

Its fangs closed on Adora’s wrist as she interposed herself between the girl and the monster. Golden blood dripped from the injury as she brought the blade down on its head, shattering the skull.

She turned to the girl and said, “Are you all right?”

“Yes – thanks to you.” The girl’s large, dark eyes flicked to the already-healing wounds on Adora’s wrist, and the sun-coloured liquid flowing from them. “Please, tell me your name, O goddess, that I may repay you with a suitable offering!”

“My name’s Adora. And I don’t need offerings-”

But the girl had already fled.

* * *

Moonlight shimmered off the lake, and a human form rose from the moon’s reflection. Adora’s face broke into a radiant smile as her girlfriend manifested.

“Glimmer!”

The goddess of moonlight raced to the shore of the lake, pulling Adora into a tight embrace. “I wish you didn’t have to fight your way up every time, ‘Dora. I hate that they won’t just let you walk out.”

“Can’t be helped.”

“Yeah, I know. But it sucks.”

“Honestly, it just feels wrong that Horde Prime, of all people, is in charge of the underworld. It feels like there should be a better system than the narcissistic whims of someone like him.”

“Maybe someday we’ll find someone who can replace him. The titans were overthrown; gods can’t be immune.” Glimmer looked up at Adora, who was just standing there, soaking up the world. “Any further findings on what you’re the goddess of?”

“None. Since I’m tied to the underworld, you’d think I’d be tied to death or artifice, but we already have gods of battle and bloodshed. I have no idea what I’m supposed to do.”

Glimmer thought for a moment and said, “I think you’re the goddess of death _denied_.”

“What?”

“Think about it, Adora.” Glimmer gestured to the ruin of the skull. “Every time you come up here, you save someone. Monsters, bandits – you even brought up that Elysian flower to make medicine. I think you have so much power, even though you don’t have many worshippers or offerings, because every life someone saves is an offering to you – and your prayer is just, ‘Not today.’”

“Death denied.” Adora shook her head. “I just wish I could deny my own. I can already feel myself being drawn back with every word.”

“Then stop talking. Just hold me. Someday, we’ll find a way to stay together. Forever.”

“Forever.”

**Author's Note:**

> I know that this is interpreting "period piece" rather loosely, but you can't deny it works.


End file.
